Hodgson, Richard G.

English

Dordt College

Volume 3 Number 2 Article 4 December 1974 Christian Astronomy vs. Secular Astronomy Richard G. Hodgson Dordt College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcollections.dordt.edu/pro_rege  Part of the Astrophysics and Astronomy Commons, Christianity Commons, and the Higher Education Commons Recommended Citation Hodgson, Richard G. (1974) "Christian Astronomy vs. Secular Astronomy," Pro Rege: Vol. 3: No. 2, 10 - 13. Available at: https://digitalcollections.dordt.edu/pro_rege/vol3/iss2/4 This Feature Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University Publications at Digital Collections @ Dordt. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pro Rege by an authorized administrator of Digital Collections @ Dordt. For more information, please contact ingrid.mulder@dordt.edu. by Richard HodgsonAssistant Professor--~--- of AstronomyRev. Mr. Hodgson directs theobservatio'~Z programs concern-ing Mercury and the Minor PLanetsfor the Association of LU'Lar andPLanetary Observers~ and editsthe Minor Planet HuLZetin. Be-fore coming to Dorot in L969 hetaught ast~ono~J at the Univer-sity of Vermont. Mr. HodgsonaLso holds a Th.l11. degree fromlies tminis ter Theo logica Z Semi-nary a~l is a rninister in the(Jrthodox Presbyterian church.I n Luke 16 the Lord Jesus Christ tellsof the "great gulf fixed" between a believingbeggar named Lazarus and an unbelievingrich man in the life whic"h is to cbme. Thisgreat gulf not only separates the believerfrom the unbeliever at death; it also beginsto separate their mental outlook in thisworld as well. The born-again Christian,tutored by the Scriptures, has a distinctlydifferent world-life view than that of hisunbelieving acquaintances, and we find thistp be true in the various academic disci-plines.Let us consider how this applies in ~hephysical sciences, and in the field of astron-omy in particular, a field in which I amactively engaged in teaching, research, andwriting.We live in an exciting age: the age ofthe great discoveries-the Distance Explo-sion, the Stellar Population Explosion, theAtomic Age, the Space Age. So many fieldsin astronomy and astrophysics have openedup in the last fifty or sixty years that thecreation as we know it is a vastly differentplace than our forefathers knew.It was only a few years ago thatastronomers had serious doubts aboutwhether other galaxies outside our ownMilky Way Galaxy existed. The famous"Shapley-Curtis Debate" held before theNational Academy of Sciences on April 26,1920, illustrated this. That debate itselfwas indecisive, Shapley arguing againstother galaxies, and Curtis holding thepossibility open. There were wrong argu-ments on both sides, but the matter wasresolved on New Year's Day, 1924, whenEdwin Hubble made public several photo-graphic plates he had taken of the Andro-meda Nebula (as it was then called) withthe aid of the then new 1 OO-inch telescopeat Mount Wilson Observatory, the largestin the world at that time. These photo-graphs showed clearly the vast arm structure,differentiating the Nebula into individualstars. The argument was over. There wereother galaxies indeed! The AndromedaNebu la was renamed the Andromeda Galaxy.Today we know that the AndromedaGalaxy contains approximately 400 billionstars. We have found giant elliptical galaxieswhich probably contain over 1 trillion stars,and 'dwarf galaxies containing "only" a fewbillion stars. I n all, it is estimated thatabout 1 billion galaxies are visible with the200-inch telescope at ~J1t. Palomar. This isthe Stellar Population Explosion.At the same time, our knowledge ofthe extent of space has increased greatly.The estimated volume of the creation todayis at least 100 trillion times larger than thatknown to be the case as recently as 1920.These findings have enormous implicationsfor any world-life view.I n the face of these many discoveries,the Christian has a tendency to recoil. It issuch a different world than that which ourforefathers thought they knew. As Chris-10-Christian AstronomyYs. Seculartians we want to affirm that this IS ourFather's world, and we want to witness tcthe fact that it all was made by andbelongs to the Trinue God. We are some-times annoyed, too, that the unbelieving,secular scientist seems to have done farmore than the Christian in terms of explor-ing and discovering the Creation and inter-preting it to modern man. For example,Christians of reformed persuasion havestayed almost completely out of the fieldsof astronomy, astrophysics, and geology.Often we have given heed to the sciencequacks who have traded on our ignoranceaudiences. Sometimes it is even the preach-ers who have indulged in belittling nega-tivism, thinking themselves champions ofthe faith as they string up science on thegallows. And the more their audiences seemto relish tllis performance, the more itseems to pass for the truth.I think particularly of astronomy inthis regard. The recent investigations anddiscoveries in lunar and planetary astronomythey do not know. The means by whichstellar distances, and the distances to gala-xies are determined, the equations pertain-ing to stellar energy production, the Hertz-in these areas, and filled our minds withdogmatic interpretations concerning whatthe Bible does or does not teach concerningthese areas.In view of this inadequate backgroundin many of the physical sciences, manyChristians have yielded to oversimplifica-tions, and have adopted a belittling attitudetoward science and scientists in general.Sometimes even Christians working in sci-ence have this attitude. They spend muchof their time denouncing the worship ofscience in the modern world. Some of thisneeds to be done, to be sure, and manyvoices, both Christian and non-Christianhave been raised against scientism in recentyears. Our main effort cannot, however,merely be sowing doubt about most of thebasic accomplishments of science. Over-simplified negativism (usually by personswho have never had a formal education inthe field they are attacking) has often beenallowed to pass uncontested by Christiansprung-Russell diagram inall its beauty, therole of star clusters in the study of stellaraging, the Cepheid period-luminosity rela-tion (the calibration of which is the mostimportant thing yet done at Mt. Palomar)-the significance of these and many otherdiscoveries is lost on scientifically un-informed zealots of Christianity. Theirastronomy involves a whiff of Ptolemy,and ends with Galileo or Newton.Some of the belittlers of science tell usthat it is all a matter of presuppositioris.(Presuppositions are important, but onemust deal with observational data as well).To hear some tell it, any conclusion reachedby a secular, unbelieving scientist is a packof lies, the fruit of a mentality which leadsto building Towers of Babel.It seems to me that denunciations of"Secular Science" and "Secular Scientists"made in such oversimplified terms consti-tute dangerous falsehood. While suchspeakers might win applause from emotional.-11-Christians who enjoy hearing the unbeliev-ing secularist condemned, it can involve abreach of the ninth commandment: "Thoushalt not bear false witness against thyneighbor." God is not glorified with liesand exaggerations.False accusations and sweeping denun-ciations of scientific work involve a denialof God's works of common grace in thelives of secular scientists. I n the field ofastronomy, there are many unbelievingscientists with whom I am very well ac-quairlted, and with whom I have beenworking closely. I find that they makeevery effort to be rigorously honest in.their work. They may not always be right,but then that is true of the Christian too.Science rests on the foundation of ob-servational honesty. Any distortion ofobservations, any framing of the facts to fita theory rather than contriwise is badscience, and is repugnant to the .trueChristian and to the true scientist alike. If,however, we engage in belittling the ac-complishments of the secular scientist(which are a work of God's common grace),we rob God of the glory and praise Hedeserves from H is works of common grace-a violation of the eighth commandment.Having said all of this in defense of themany true accomplishments of unbelievingscientists in order that they may secure afair hearing in the Christian community, itis nevertheless true that there are somesignificant areas of difference between theChristian and the secular approach toscience. The area of difference does not somuch concern observational data, but theinterpretation of those data. As a Christian,I prefer to talk about a "creation" ratherthan a "universe," since the term creationimplies the existence of a Creator; the term"universe" does not carry that implication.The areas of greatest difference come whenwe talk about cosmogony (i.e., theories oforigins) and exobiology (i.e., the possibilityof life elsewhere in the cosmos). These arethe very areas in which mankind has 10asked questions, and speculative answihave been rampant, but the ob~ervatiordata is weak. Yet man's presumpti,prompts him to give answers in spite of tweakness of the observational data. -make matters worse, man often wantsanswer without reference to God in ordto maintain an autonomous or independethought system. (Cf. Romans 1 :25).Time does not permit us to explothese areas today. To do so adequateleach of us needs a year or more of stU(in astronomy. We may, however, be abto consider briefly a major question thseparates the Christian and the seculariin astronomy-the question of the place Iman.What is man? Secular astronomespecially in the twentieth century, talabout how big everything is. This is almcthe inevitable and invariable point beilmade in the modern planetariu!T1 as weThere is, indeed, good reason to speak t~way, because our common world vie,tend to be unthinkingly geocentric argeochauvinistic. But we need to go beyorthis emphasis on bigness to set forth tIplace of man in the vast, newly-discovertuniverse in which we find ourselves.It is not enough to say (as SOrTsecularists do) that man's importance IiImerely in the fact that he is the scientisable to discover the universe. We are livirin an age of cu1tural shock. Consciously (unconsciously, the man on the street wan'to know ~ he is, ~ he is, and~the meaning and value of his life are. Whilhe may know little astronomy, he is faintlaware that the universe is all very big. It h.been getting out of hand since the days cCopernicus when the geocentric model w.laid aside; but in the age of galaxies, hfinds himself a helpless citizen of a thircrate planet going around a third-rate sta(the Sun), which in turn is revolving fJrounlone of a billion galaxies. In reaction to thi12-ground, and in caring for the creatures ofthe Earth. As overseers and stewardsanswerable to God, our lives are filled withmeaning and purpose only to the extentthat we seek to carry out the tasks He hasappointed for us. As we labor for Him,seeking His glory, we find purpose and joyin our work, and we are not seeking toevade our responsibilities. The tragedy ofthe secular world today is that few findjoy in their labors; many grurtlble and livefor the weekends. They have no clear pur-pose in living, and they have no enduringjoy.5. Even though sin has entered theworld due to man's rebellion, God calls usin Jesus Christ to take up the work anew ofglorifying Him through labor in H is creation,and in proclaiming the way of salvation tothose who now walk in darkness.6. The importance of man is seen,finally, in the momentous fact that, smalland seemingly insignificant as we are physi-cally in a vast cosmos, dim-witted and re-pulsively sinful though we be, our covenant-keeping God has proclaimed us precious inHis sight, and given evidence of the same:for Christ the Creator Himself came to ourlittle planet, and suffered and died in hu-man flesh to save us sinners! Think of it!And even today, with steadfast love, as ourKing in Heaven, Christ intercedes for us!In the light of all this, we must reachthe culturally shocked, the disillusioned andconfused of this world with a new aware-ness not only of the greatness of God's vastcreation, but also of the place and purposewhich they have in that creation throughJesus Christ our Lord. We must claim thediscip.line of astr:onomy, too, for JesusChrist. We need more Christian workersgoing into this field, both to labor in re-search and observation, and as Christianteachers and Christian planetarium educa-tors who are prepared to set forth an inte-grated world-life view that will tell thewhole truth to the glory of the Triune God.immensity, consciously or unconscio'Jsly,the man on the street concludes that no onenotices him, no one cares about him. Hislife has no meaning or purpose in theoverall scheme of things. As a result, hemay become a hedonist: "Let us eat, drink,and be merry, for tomorrow we die "Or, bored with life, he may try to escapefrom life by the use of drugs, or alcohol, orby becoming preoccupied with sports andrecreation, and "getting away from it all "This situation arises in part from the astro-nomical discoveries of the recent decades,as the various cultural shock waves pene-trate through to various levels of society.The Christian scholar in astronomycannot stop with a mere description of howbig everything is. He must be concerned forthe implications and the impact of learningupon society. The Christian is providedwith a view of man and of man's relation-ship to the Creator God and to the rest ofthe creation in Genesis 1-2 and in Psalm 8,for example. These passages (and otherswhich might be mentioned) give a clearanswer to the cultural shock situation inwhich we find presently ourselves:1. Man is not important because he isphysically central in the creation. The Bibledoes not teach a geocentric, Ptolemaicuniverse.2. Nor is man important because he isso wise or clever, for we see his sin and follyin every hour of history, in every field ofactivity. It is almost enough to make onewonder if there is "intelligent life" on ~3. Man's importance rather lies in thefact that he is a creature specially createdby God from the dust of the ground (i.e.,created out of inorganic, non-living mater-ials, and not by biological evolution). Manis created in the image of God, and is theonly creature on Earth that has an awarenessof the invisible Creator-God.4. Man's importance, further, is to beunderstood in the light of the work thatGod has given him to do in tilling the13-

Christian Astronomy vs. Secular Astronomy

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Christian Astronomy vs. Secular Astronomy

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